Easley has earned UConn scholarship, but he wants much more

Published 3:55 am, Tuesday, September 1, 2009

STORRS -- Whenever Randy Edsall decided to wander out of his office in the Burton Family Football Complex and take a peek into the Shenkman Training Center to see who might be working out during the off-season, Marcus Easley was there.

If the head coach, while on his way to a meeting, passed by the weight room and stuck his head in for a moment, Marcus Easley was there.

When Edsall, working hard to beat the sunrise, pulled into his parking spot and looked across the street as receivers and quarterbacks worked on their pass routes on the lush grass of Memorial Stadium, Marcus Easley was there.

During each of those times, Edsall made a mental note to himself. Easley, an athletic receiver from Stratford, was working as hard as he could to take his game to the next level.

Over the last couple of seasons, with Donald Brown in the Huskies backfield, receivers -- heck, the entire passing game -- seemed to almost vanish into thin air. But with new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead in place, along with an up-tempo offense that looks to finally balance the run and the pass, Easley knew that his time was now.

"Your junior year is supposed to be the year where you get your name out there, you want to be either a starter or a contributor," Easley said Monday at UConn's football media day. "Going into this season, I've set high expectations for myself and I want to try and be the best I can."

So, during this past off-season, Easley stayed on campus. He did not drive back and forth to Stratford like he had many times over the course of his first two seasons to visit family and friends. Football became his sole focus. He put extra time in the weight room and on the practice field, running routes with quarterback Zach Frazer.

He worked hard in the classroom and, most importantly, opened the coaching staff's eyes in the annual Blue-White spring scrimmage, making 10 receptions for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Easley caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Frazer in the second quarter and a 30-yard TD strike from Johnny McEntee in the fourth.

Not bad for a player who came into the game with just five career receptions in two seasons.

"That (the spring game) was kind of my point in time where I knew I had to shine. I put myself out there," Easley said. "I opened some eyes, I guess. Hopefully, people recognize who I am now. I want to make a name for myself."

Said wide receivers coach Matt Cersosimo: "Going into spring practice from the winter workouts, I know he wanted to elevate his game and try to take his game to the next level, especially with the new offense coming in. I think he saw an opportunity to become a major contributor within this offense. And throughout the spring, he demonstrated that. He had a great spring. He's coming off a spring game where he was the leading receiver in the game and was able to make a lot of deep plays for us."

Easley was also coming off a final 2008 game against Pitt when he caught two passes for 54 yards, including a 43-yard fourth quarter connection with Tyler Lorenzen. He used that game to drive himself to be better in the off-season. And based on the results in the spring game, it's worked.

"It all started after last season. The role I had last year wasn't as big as I would have liked, so I took that, I used that as motivation, working on getting bigger, stronger, faster, and I improved. I made some strides this spring. I stayed up here all summer, working out with the team and trying to put myself in a better position come this fall."

That increased work ethic wasn't lost on Edsall, either. As good as Easley had been in high school at Bunnell, he wasn't offered a scholarship anywhere. He walked on at UConn and, for two years, paid his dues. He worked on special teams, made the occasional catch. He did whatever he was needed to do.

Edsall noticed that, too. And last Friday, he called Easley into his office and gave him some exciting news: He had earned a scholarship.

"It was an accumulation of all the things he's done from when he first got here until now," Edsall said. "Marcus has contributed on special teams and also as a receiver. He's continually worked hard and done the things that everyone else within the program has done. He got himself on the field and put himself in a position to be a contributor here, so I rewarded the young man for his dedication and his efforts."

For Easley, earning Edsall's praise was a big relief.

"When you hear, 'Coach wants to see you,' you never know what to expect. Could be something good, could be something bad. I couldn't remember doing anything bad, so I wasn't sure," Easley said. "He's real big on paying the price, putting in your time. I put in the effort and my hard work paid off."